Melanoma is one of the most common cancers in Australian and United States populations. In the United States, 76,380 new cases of invasive melanoma are estimated to be diagnosed in 2016. In 2016, it is estimated that 10,130 people will die of melanoma. The annual cost of treating melanoma is estimated as $3.3 billion. Therefore, besides being fatal, melanoma can affect multiple stages of a societal fabric.
While melanoma can be a fatal disease, it can be treated fully when detected early, by for example, an excisional biopsy. Typically, early detection of melanoma in a skin mole or other lesion is assessed by the presence/absence of certain features in the mole or other lesion. These examinations are usually formed as defined protocols used by health care professionals. There exist several such protocols such as, for example, “ABCD Rule”, “Menzies Rule”, “3 point checklist”, etc. Common features across these different protocols can include the presence of certain “colors” (brown, black, red, etc.) and/or patterns (networks, globules, etc.). When examined under dermoscopy or other clinical imagery, health care professionals look for signatures and assign a score to the mole or other lesion. The decision to perform a biopsy occurs if the score exceeds a predefined threshold, the value of which may vary depending on rules and/or protocols.
In skin cancer diagnosis, risk analysis is also an important step. Dermatologists or other health care professionals evaluate a patient's risk of getting skin cancer based on factors such as, for example, age, gender, family history, and/or lifestyle. However, in current practice, the properties of skin and lesion patterns as they relate to patient risk factor are not considered.